Rey looked down at the red planet, she was unsure why she had agreed to go with Rika. She should have known it was a trap.

Or maybe she had known somewhere deep down in her that Rika would lead her back to him. She still felt him often, reaching for her, asking for her. But she had shut him out for the most part.

He was standing beside her now, hands clasped behind his back almost nervously, and yet the picture of patience. "This planet must remind you of Jakku."

"Not really."

Rika spoke up from behind them, "The other one has been taken care of, like you said."

Ice gripped Rey's heart, what had she done to Maia?

"That will be all Nyla."

There was a short pause before the other woman left as silently as she had appeared. Rey swore she became one with the shadows almost. She turned to Ben, "Where is Maia? What have you done with her?"

"You still think me a monster?" Rey didn't respond, "She's safe, she will be safe."

Again, Rey wondered about their history. Maia had always been so vague but she got the impression they were at least friends. "I thought the past had to die, isn't she a part of your past."

"She didn't deserve what happened to her. She was innocent and she suffered the worst of it. It is a regret I have had for a long time. When I saw her on Starkiller base, I thought she was a ghost haunting me, speaking in riddles, but she was just a crazy woman. She deserves better than what the Resistance can give her. So do you."

"I decide what I deserve, not you."

He nodded his head as if conceding her point, "There is something about this planet you should know about."

Poe ended the communication with the Resistance. They couldn't get in contact with Leia for some reason and so Chewie was flying the Falcon to try and help them. They were stretched too thin to send a lot of help, so they were advised to lay low and stay out of sight.

Advised being the key word as there was no way in hell Poe was going to do that with both Rey and Maia missing. Rose put a hand on his shoulder, "They're Jedi, they'll be fine."

Poe wasn't so sure, he wanted to trust them but he had a pit in his stomach that told him they were in trouble. "Thanks Rose."

Noise in the cargo hold drew their attention. Tel and Finn stuck their heads in the cockpit, "We have bad news."

Poe turned around to face them, "Great, I was just thinking about how this could get worse. What is it?"

Finn told them how they had found the rebel hideout destroyed and everyone in it was murdered by either blaster fire or by lightsaber. "We think it might have been Kylo Ren." Finn concluded.

"Did you see either of the girls?"

"No, they weren't among the dead, but Ren wouldn't have killed them surely. That means they were probably taken to the ship."

"Then why is it still here?"

Tel motioned out the window with his blaster, "There are troopers patroling the city, doing searches. They are probably looking for us, we need to go now."

"Go where? We can't put your family in danger." Rose spoke up.

"My sister, she will know where to take us to safety."

She wasn't on a hill this time. She was on a plain with tall brown grass. In the distance was a small wooden house surrounded by squat trees. This was so, normal. She almost thought she wasn't dreaming. Until she turned and saw the figured cloacked in black standing next to her. Startled, she stumbled back and fell to the ground, the grasses covering her vision.

Maia awoke in a cell. Rika had knocked her unconcious quickly, while Maia had still been trying to process what was going on. The Force was whispering to her here, that he was near and she was in trouble. As if she hadn't figured that out yet.

The cell was well lit, utilitarian in design. Just how she would have imagined a First Order cell to look like. Her dream disturbed her, she had never dreamt of that before, a house on a plain on a planet she had never seen before.

On the opposite wall was a darkened window and when she looked at it, her dream played like it was a screen. The brown grass blew in the wind and the door to the house swung open. Maia had never seen anything like it before. She got up from the bench and went to touch it, wondering if it would ripple like water or be hard like glass. As her hand reached for the scene and a figure stepped out of the house, a light came on behind the glass. The scene disappeared and Maia was reaching for Rika who was watching her behind the glass.

"I see you're awake." Rika sounded bored. She had changed out of her Teranian clothes and into a black outfit with red trim and several belts crossing her body.

"Who are you, really?"

"Rika Dravvad is my real name, but I go by Nyla Ren now. I arrived at the Jedi Temple a few weeks before the massacre. I'm not surprised you don't remember me, you always were in your own little world Maia."

Her heart pounded in her ears, how could she have forgotten one of her own, a child she would have assumed dead in the massacre? Looking at the woman, she had no recollection of anyone arriving at the temple in those weeks. It had been nearly ten years, people could be forgotten. She had spent years haunted by Rika's death, not knowing who she was or that she was alive.

"You went with him."

"It was preferable to death."

"How many others lived?"

Rika raised an eyebrow at her, "Did you not know about the Knights of Ren? We heard the call and we answered, the rest of you had to die. We all thought you were dead, Kylo Ren said he had killed you."

That surprised her as much as Rika's sudden betrayal. Why had he protected her? Or had he not wanted to seem weak? This was all too much to think about. "What's going on?"

"An old friend of yours wants to see you."

She reached out through the Force for Poe, Rey, anyone who might be able to feel her, but a wall of darkness surrounded her. No one knew where she was or what was going on. The door slid open and a figured walked in and took a place beside Rika

"Maia'an, it is good to see you again."

Braxis V'ron leered at her from the otherside of the glass. He looked much older than the last time she had laid eyes on him. His hair was mostly gray with a a few streaks of black still holding on. His eyes had the same golden gleam to them, the one that had scared her so much as a child.

"You look just like your mother."

She stumbled back, his words were filled with darkness and malice. She felt suffocated by his very presence. This was the darkness she had felt on the planet magnified and focused directly on her. She looked at Rika for some kind of sign that the other woman felt it too, but she just looked bored again.

"Rika, what is he doing here?"

But the woman ignored her and turned to Braxis, "Do we have an agreement."

"I believe so. I will take her off your hands. I tried to do that years ago, but Skywalker got her first."

She ran to the door, put her hands on it and tried to feel a way to open the door with the Force, but it was still blocked. The darkness was surpressing her connection with the Force in a way she didn't know was possible. She didn't know how to get out of this.

"Maybe you've seen it, or felt it already." Kylo was looking down on the planet, "Under the surface, in caves deep beneath the city, there is an old sith shrine. The V'ron family is the last in a long line of caretakers for the shrine. They have learned many things from the shrine and have been using the Force to supress the wills of the entire planet to their submission."

Revulsion shook through Rey, "That's disgusting."

"Yes, it is."

Rey was surprised he would agree with her. "What are you going to do?"

"Destroy it."

"Really?"

He looked at her, "Yes. I meant it when I said let it all die. The Sith have to die as much as the Jedi do. What V'ron is doing on this planet cannot be allowed to continue. Rika has brought him on the ship, he will watch as we fire on it from orbit and then we will kill him as well."

Rey couldn't say she disagreed with this plan. If this V'ron man was the cause of the sorrow on that planet then everyone would be better off without him, but it still left her uneasy. "It is safe to fire from orbit, for the people in the city?"

"Of course."

She sensed a lie, somewhat of one. "We can evacuate the city, just in case. Surely we can do that."

"There's no need." He sounded final. Rey wondered what had happened to him in the time since she had last saw him. He had been so full of rage, but all of that seemed to be gone, or well hidden from her.

"Why am I here?"

"I didn't expect you to be here. Nyla is a very resourceful spy, she knows how to feed tantalizing information to the right people. We expected to get some members of the Resistance, not you or Maia. But it works out well for us that you are."

Rey was confused. She had imagined this confrontation to be much more violent, not 'let's save this planet from its oppressors.' This was not the Kylo Ren she had expected to find on this ship. She had expected to find an angry one, someone she could fight and defeat. But this, she didn't know if she could defeat this.

He turned away from her, "Find Nyla and tell her to bring V'ron to me immediately." He demanded of a trooper gaurding the door. The two troopers left the room quickly and Kylo returned to her side, "Let's get this over with."

They put cuffs on her and Braxis wrapped a firm hand around her upper arm, "Leave quickly." Rika said, "Ren will be wondering where you are soon and I have to move now while he's distracted."

"Thank you Rika, good work. I will see you back on the surface soon."

Rika nodded her head and left the room. Braxis took a few steps and started to drag her along with him so she did the only thing she could think of and went limp. He cursed at her and motioned for two troopers to help him. They didn't respond to his commands, so he turned back to her and she felt the darkness compelling her to move her legs. She got up, against her will and he was able to drag her along the hallways of the star destroyer. "What do you want with me?"

"I need an apprentice and even an unwilling one is better than none. Teranai 5 belongs to me and I will not let it fall into the hands of the light."

"How can you do this? What power is this?"

"The Sith existed on Teranai 5 in secret for generations. Their powers, their knowledge, their wisdom is all mine and soon, it can be yours too. It was your destiny, your mother saw that. Don't you want to know where she is now?"

She tried to shake her head, but it felt like she couldn't move her body anymore. But she kept walking, moving with Braxis to an unknown destination. She closed her eyes, blocking out anything he continued to say to her as they walked. The darkness was outside of her, but inside of her was a light, a strength she had always had. She had ignored it for a long time, almost fearing it. But that time was over now. She concentrated on it, on the light, on the thin balance between the light inside and the dark outside.

She opened her eyes and clenched her fists. In a burst of power, she swung her arms around a hit Braxis V'ron in the face. He crumpled and she concentrated the Force on her cuffs and they exploded, freeing her hands.

"No, that shouldn't be possible." Braxis croaked out. He was bleeding from his nose and mouth. She had a million things she wanted to say to this man who had caused this planet so much misery, but she couldn't speak any of them as sobs came up her throat and tears filled her eyes. She force pushed him agianst the wall. "Maia'an, stop this." The darkness pushed back at her but no, this time it would not supress her. But as she looked at him, darkness welled up from inside her and she wanted to kill him. To end the endless suffering of her people, of herself. She threw him against the other wall instead, releasing her hold on him as he slumped unconsciously to the floor.

She felt the darkness he had created lift and wondered if the people on the planet felt it too. Alarms blared around her suddenly and the ship pitched sharply and she was flung against the wall. Something was happening and she had to find Rey and get off this ship now.